Starring:
Date: August 31, 2012
Summary:
Tsun awakens after being sucked into some sort of transportation scroll. She is on a charred island, Shukaku is silent in her head, and she is soon to discover what the masked man known to most as 'Fuu Ka' has in store for her…
"No Fate - Burnt Sands"
The Island Turtle - East Ocean
After Tsun opened the scroll and got sucked into it… Well, it was all over in an instant. One moment she was looking at that strange spiral pattern and the surrounding seal calligraphy, and the next the sensation of being drawn inwards. Then… Darkness. The darkness is quickly gone as well. It is replaced with the rippling, shining lines of sunlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Tsun is on a beach — one she has likely never seen before. There are nine black obelisks surrounding her in a circle, each no more than 5 feet tall. The sand is a dark coloration that indicates it might be the rest of volcanic activity.
And off to the north is a charred wasteland that mimics that idea. Ledges, ravines, small mountains, and jagged ridges, all blackened, covered in nutrient rich soil… But also ashes and obsidian. High above all of it is a broken-looking volcano that issues no smoke or other indications of still being alive. The time is slightly later than it was when she opened that scroll, indicating she may have been unconscious for awhile… Or that she is now significantly farther towards the east, where the sunlight is already fading. Potentially both.
There's no indication of where she is other than these things. Tsun has some time to regain her bearings and look around, but attempting to leave the ring of obsidian obelisks results in a crackling purple energy to appear that seems very unfriendly. Attempting to pass through that field might not be healthy…
Tsun may also notice there is silence in her head aside from her own thoughts. Shukaku may either be unable to speak or maybe she just can't hear him somehow. Perhaps the energy is suppressing him?
"Nnn." Tsun adjusts in her sleep, rubbing at an itch at her leg. An itch that somehow transfers onto her hand? "Nnnnwha?" It then comes back to her, she just sucked into the scroll and now she was just sleeping away as if it weren't a problem?!
Her eyes widen and she shoots upright, looking around in a panic her jaw tense and nostrils flared and then. She looks down to see the itchiness was sand. "Huh…" Tsun then focuses on the obelisk. "Huh, that was a good nap for…. once…. wait." Nap? Suddenly in some random location? Giant, ominous obelisks looming over head and that strange silence within her head, sure Shukaku had been quite on rare occasion but, she could always feel him /there/. Now she was resting in a serene location. This can only mean one thing.
"OH CRAP THAT SCROLL KILLED ME!" Sure there were times she wished for death, she even tried to bring it on her self but, the jinchuuriki side of her always found some way of preventing her from dying. It was a wish come true in a sense but, to die in such a stupid way. It was just… many thoughts start flooding through her head, all the things she failed to do, how exactly would she be remembered? A runaway that got murdered by paper? She was going to stop being a total 'itch' to everyone someday yet… now she's dead.
That barrier? Not necessary. As Tsun curls up on the ground and starts to sob. Waiting for her final judgment to be passed or maybe this /was/ how life ended maybe she was going to be all alone for eternity for all the terrible things she's done. The sobbing… turns into bawling. How very lame.
After Tsun has had some time to cry about the lameness of her death, there is that shock of hellish cold and the shrieking of air, sand, light, and everything else being sucked into Nowhere. When it ends, that masked man is standing a dozen or so feet away from the circle. "My apologies for the delay in my arrival. There was something I needed to do that I could not put off." The so-deep voice offers no indication of sarcasm or compassion as the giant looks (or doesn't, since there's no eye-holes) down upon Tsun from where he stands. His heavy boots thump in the sand as he begins walking forward. "Are you injured?" he asks after a few seconds when he comes to a stop outside the ring. "I will admit the side-effects of suppressing the One-Tail's Chakra are not something I was fully able to predict, but damage to your body was one I do not think should have resulted just from being placed in this field…"
He seems to be oblivious to Tsun's distress beyond the potential that she might be wounded. Or perhaps he just does not care. Then again, why should he? They are more or less strangers at this point. …Or at least as far as Tsun knows.
Fuu's style of approach did not help the case. The initial thought once again was the approach of the Shinigami but, Tsun starts to fight off the crying, not wanting her final moments in purgatory to be as lame as her final moments in life. Reduced back to sobs, Fuu speaks and Tsun comes to remembering that she had endured this feeling before, while she was still alive
Watery eyed she pauses and looks up from the safety of her own knees, brow twisted in confusion as her thoughts were too derailed to be intimidated by him once again. Se blinks a few times…
"Wait I'm.."
Tsun facepalms, quickly rubbing away the waterworks and putting on a serious expression, with a huff she starts up. "No I'm fine I was just. Don't worry about it. What the heck is going on here?" After that question is asked, there was a bit of mental self combat as she was amazed at how quickly she became grumpy after just wishing she had changed her life.
After a few seconds of silence, the masked man answers, "The scroll directed you to where we could meet. I had >hoped< you would open it sooner than you did, but at least you did not take a few >months< as another did in the past… Either way, we are here. The fact that you opened that scroll is a sign that you have accepted my offer. If you had no interest you would not have bothered to open it. The ring you are in now is a temporary measure. It will allow you to remain yourself, with your own thoughts, your own self-control, and your own power, without the necessary skill to dominate the energy-form known as the One-Tailed Shukaku."
"However, before you obtain your mastery in full, we should first pay a visit to the Hidden Mist to inform them that you have been 'rescued'… And that you will be receiving training that will render you capable of defending yourself against future 'abduction' attempts. This will take you away from the Hidden Mist at times, but either Sandaime Mizukage will accept this as a necessary or he will try and fail to restrict you unfairly." Fuu Ka tilts his head to the side and says, "Do you need anything before we depart? Food and water? A bit more sleep?"
Tsun rubs the back of her neck, should she really tell him that she wasn't really interested. That she was planning on figuring out where he hid so that she could send people after the man, that her 'captors' claimed, was bad news?
But after that nap. Tsun looks around at the calligraphy work. After seeing what he was directly capable of in maintaining Shukaku. Now he was offering her food, water and, rest. Sure he was creepy and intimidating at first but now he's kind of… "Ah. Well…" She looks a bit confused, if not, flustered. "No. I'll have time to sleep and all that once I have Shukaku under control."
Getting up and stretching she leans her head back. "But, there is one thing I do need. What exactly is going on here. You seem to know a lot. About me, Shukaku. You said you were in my mind and well, it seemed like you did it back when I first met you."
Tsun's eyes squint, "What exactly do you want from me that is causing you to go through all of this?"
Fuu takes a moment to hmmm deeply. Then he says, "If I explained everything to you, there is a high probability that — at this point in time — you would either not comprehend it or would simply not believe me. I will thus make it as simple as I can. I am dying." He lets that last word hang in the air for a few seconds. "I have been extending my life through many different means for a very long time. My death is not preventable and my condition is not reversible. Simply put, I have lived beyond the ability of my body, mind, or spirit to sustain me much longer. As little as two or three years ago I was significantly more powerful than I am now. I can still crush most opponents without particular effort, but I also have developed the habit of not getting into pointless fights over the century-and-a-third of my existence."
Amuro places the palm of his right hand against one of the obelisks, and after a *SNAP-hiss* sound, the barely-audible hum of the obelisks' energy fades away. Almost immediately, stirrings may begin in Tsun's mind. Perhaps it was more than just her who has been sleeping, because Shukaku might not quite be aware of the change yet. "There is a great power — a power beyond even the Tailed Beasts. I presently command it, but when I die, it will have no master. It will incite an endless blood lust in all living things. >Everything< will try to kill >every other thing<. Not just humans, but other types of animals as well. Bacteria and most plants might survive, but it would be the extinction of all other life."
The masked man folds his hands behind his back and turns his head towards the ocean. "Whether you admit it or not, to slaughter as many people as you can before you too are cut down is not the future you desire. I am not just putting my affairs in order by training you. I am hoping that those with the potential to grow very powerful will be able to secure the Beast of Blood's prison and to shape the destiny of this world better than the fools presently in charge. How you go about that — or if you will even try — will be determined by you, once you have your power and the One-Tailed Beast's power both to do with as you please. But I can at least make sure the threat beyond all other threats will >never< be released. For that, I need those who are strong enough to protect me when I die and take the Beast with me."
The masked giant stands there quietly for several long moments before saying ryely, "…And here I intended to give a simple explanation."
Tsun looked a little offended, with his opening words but, does not press until he is done with his "simple" explanation. The crackling of the set-up's deactivation does not seem to follow up with any side-effects and Tsun manages to stand and listen intently. "Huh, so all this for a favor in a way?" Tsun shrugs slightly, "I guess you're right though. I can't really believe you, claiming something to be more powerful than a Tailed-Beast, something so strong that the world would go mad? If that existed, why wouldn't it of… of… K-kk…"
It looks like Shukaku finally woke up. Tsun's hands flying to her head trying to subdue the pain but, she was unaware how to do when Shukaku was rampaging at this degree. Dropping to her knees it would be a good time to be thankful for not focusing on the more physical aspects of being a ninja or else she would've crushed her own head now with how tightly she was squeezing.
It wasn't even comprehensible it was like everything he wanted to say in the past few hours happened at once and then… silence again. "Ugh damnit, what the hell was that all about?!" Tsun gets back on her feet, one hand still holding the side of her head, "Tch, whatever. I guess I don't have time to jab at your story or your apparent freakish age. I'll see it when I believe it."
Her? A guardian of what may be something that leads to the end of the world? As if. Tsun starts limping and eventually shifts into a walk as the pain starts to fully fade. Until realizing, she had no idea where she was. "Oh yeah. I'm guessing we're taking some magic portal?"
The masked man does not seem put-off by Tsun's inability to accept what he is saying. He supposes those who have not seen what he has seen (so to speak) would have a hard time believing it. For now, he can only allow this Jinchuuriki time to think about it, give her lessons, and gradually reveal things to her as he feels she is able to handle them. Oh, and he will of course have to watch out for betrayal. One does not live as long as he has without taking precaution.
At the question of how they are going to get back to Kirigakure, Amuro answers, "No. That instant transportation I use would kill you. It kills me every time I use it, but due to my Kekkei Genkai I am able to reconstruct myself at the destination. It hurts, it is exhausting, and one moment of a lapse in concentration and I would not come out the other side at all. For someone without my bloodline limit at all? There is no chance of survival. There are two ways to return to the Hidden Mist. The first is that you give me a small blood sample, I transport myself to Kirigakure, and then I summon you there with a custom-made 'human summoning scroll'. The second is that we stay right here on this island… And it takes us close enough that we can walk across the water for the remaining distance."
The island will take them closer? What?
The masked man kneels down and plants his right hand in the sand. A surge of Chakra not unlike a Tailed Beast's suddenly radiates from the tall man, the same way that it did when he appeared that first time on the shore of the Land of Fire. The Chakra appears to be being channeled directly into the earth. A few moments later, the ground begins to tremble suddenly, even shaking as though there were an earthquake or a volcanic eruption! Amuro rises to a standing position and just waits. The shaking eventually stops, but the waves that were gently washing across the sand begin to foam violently even as they drop down and away from where the two ninja stand.
Tsun may become aware that there is an enormous shadow beneath the water beyond the edge of the 'beach' that is now more like a cliff-ledge, ringed with large stone spikes. A shadow almost like… A giant… Head.
"The Island Turtle will take us to your current residence for now. This living island, however, will be your 'home' for the duration of your training. Eventually, however, I will need that blood sample regardless. It would be too much of a bother to keep finding alternate means of conveying you places and I imagine you would prefer not to use the scroll-transportation route." The words being spoken in that extremely deep voice might not quite penetrate Tsun's awareness if she realizes that… She's standing on the back of a >giant turtle<.
